Chapter 623: The Great Betrayer

When Rowan spoke those words, it carried a tone of finality, time seemed to stop, everything went still... Yet this was the Forge, a space that was as close to a fifth Dimension as possible, and time was not the ultimate ruler here.

Rowan's voice transcended the limit of time and he continued speaking, whomever owned that voice was no longer just speaking, rather they were actively trying to thwart his efforts,

"My Empyrean birth may have been as an Ouroboros Serpent, but that is not all of my nature, but a minor part of it, and it should not determine all I am to be. If my future is to be determined by Chaos... Then I am no longer a Child of Chaos!!!"

Several pained roars emerged from the Core above, and Rowan's ears and eyes exploded and his corporeal body went blind, but his consciousness no longer needed such limiting organs like eyes to understand his environment, however, that did not last for long.

Rowan's consciousness was suddenly bathed in darkness, and he could feel a crushing power beyond what his current frame could hold, and his body began to collapse, unlike the previous bodily destruction, he could not control this collapse, and his mortal body was held at the edge of death, and if not for his profound vitality and his stubborn will to live and succeed, he would already be dead, because Rowan at this moment was just a pile of blood, flesh and bones.

Yet, all these seemed to happen in the distance, to someone else's body as his consciousness was dragged beyond infinity, and he saw a long Golden Road that stretched beyond countless universes...

Rowan heard a loud crash as if a thousand worlds were being split apart, and the Core above cracked as six massive Ouroboros Serpents emerged from it, they had no skin, and their bones were decaying, but their size and power were breathtaking.

... His consciousness could not maintain the connection with the Forge as he was dragged deeper and deeper down that Golden Road past hundreds of universes, but he could see flashes of battle, as his Sovereigns and all his Angelic Host fought with the Serpents...

Rowan's cries of anger could not reach the Forge, for the minds of his Serpents were being corrupted, forced against their will, but they fought against this intrusion, without Rowan, they were losing the battle against this foreign power, and he was growing ever farther from them...

He tried to fight the pull but he could not, with a loud pulse that Rowan felt could be heard all over the many universes, he found himself crashing on top of a mountain.

It almost reminded him of the moment he entered the Anima of Ohrox, the Prince of Destruction inside the Covenant.

His consciousness was addled for a few seconds before he jumped to his feet and looked around, and he nearly fell on his face, for the body he found himself in was distinctively mortal, but it was not his own.

He grunted, "How I despise this weakness!"

Rowan's consciousness tried to escape from this body, he needed to return to the Forge or his Ascension to the level of Will would fail, and his struggles were useless. The Serpents had nearly been melted into the Core, and if he did not return to complete the Destroyer, they would be taken from him, he would never allow that travesty.

He desperately strived to escape, his consciousness was still powerful, but there was nothing he could do about the mortal shell he inhabited, it was... less. Everything about its biology and spirituality made manipulating his consciousness and escaping from it nearly impossible.

He knew that there was still a connection between him and his body inside the Forge, for he could still sense the wave of battle, even from this place where he found himself.

Rowan struggled for a moment and he gave up, the only progress he made was a very clear understanding of this body he just inhabited, and he needed to gather more information to understand how he could return, someone brought him here after all.

This body, although it was a mortal, was different, and he instinctively understood that he had no relation with this flesh, not in his past lives, nor was it related to the Kuranes bloodline.

The body should be in its thirties with short black hair, there was a deep scar on its left cheek and its eyes had two colors, the left was gray and the right was gold, also it had a single massive heart which was inside its stomach.

He looked around him, aware that where he was would be dangerous, and found out that he was alone. The mountaintop he found himself in was ragged, with a few tufts of yellow grass stubbornly fighting through the cracks, clawing to life despite this detrimental environment.

Rowan walked towards the edge of the mountain and looked below, and saw nothing but an endless black cloud that surrounded the mountain for miles, and at the edge of the horizon was a pale golden mist that blocked his perception from reaching the distance.

"You fit right in my body, it's almost uncanny."

The voice dragged Rowan from his speculations and he looked around, and he found a fire with the body of a pregnant man that had been staked through.

A closer look would reveal that the flames came from the remnant of dozens of burning universes, and Rowan could still hear the intensely terrifying screams emanating from them.

The man was suspended over these horrifying flames, the wooden stake pierced through his buttocks and out the side of his neck, and the stake was slowly rotating so the fire could evenly cook the man suspended above it.

Yet what made this scene more peculiar was that the head of the man was motionless and focused on Rowan, while the rest of his body was rotating over the flames causing his neck to become twisted like a wounded rope.

The face of the man was the same as that of the body Rowan was inhabiting and this tortured creature smiled at him, while golden blood slowly dribbled from the side of his lips.

There would have been a time when such a horrific sight was shocking to him, but those times were far behind, Rowan moved closer to this ghastly apparition and he frowned at the scent of roasted meat that entered his nose.

He did not know where this knowledge came from, but he called out, "You are Caine, are you not? The one who has been speaking with me. The brightest light in all of creation, the Great Betrayer... The damned voice in my head."